Ahead of the Bell: Cisco slides in premarket trading

Cisco's profit and sales both came out just ahead of analyst expectations, and it expects sales to grow 9 or 10 percent in the fourth quarter. Cisco had lowered expectations in February, saying customers were delaying orders because of weakness in the U.S. economy.

Citi Investment Research analyst Paul Mansky said order growth is slowing down, which indicates that Cisco's recovery from economic concerns may be slower than investors were hoping. As a result, he thinks the stock will give up some of its gains from recent weeks.

Mansky, who has a "Buy" rating on the stock, said comparisons will get easier in the second half of 2008, and Cisco's results will improve. He increased his price target to $31 per share from $27.

Lehman Brothers analyst Inder Singh said the quarter was solid, but agreed some long-term concerns will remain. He rates the stock "Overweight," and increased his price target to $32 from $30.

The stock slipped 18 cents to $26.15 in premarket trading, down from Tuesday's closing price of $26.33. Shares traded as low as $26 and as high as $26.47 in the early session.